Menu

manipulatives

Number Pieces Basic is a free app that helps students develop mathematics skills like place value and computation through an open ended platform of base ten number blocks that come in groups of 1, 10 and 100. Students can group, break apart, regroup, choose one of three colours, and rotate the pieces as well as annotate using the in-app pencil and eraser tools. Number Pieces Basic is ideal for counting, grouping, demonstrating the concepts of place value, addition and subtraction. A more advanced version, the paid app Number Pieces, has additional tools for representation, multiplication, and division.

Number Pieces Basic is suitable for Lower Primary, Upper Primary and occasional uses in Secondary.

MoMA Art Lab is a free app produced by the Museum of Modern Art that challenges users to creatively use shapes and colors in imaginative ways to produce art or practice fundamentals like line, shape, form, colour, space, repetition, and symmetry. The Art Lab app has three main modes. The default mode is a free form rectangular space where students can use a variety of shapes and a pencil tool with varying widths, both available in 36 colours, to explore and create. The two other modes are accessible by the green and orange circles at the top left corner of the art space. The green circle with a lightbulb icon gives a series of creative prompts to get ideas flowing and is an excellent way to familiarize students with artistic and technical capabilities of the app, for instance using shapes to create familiar objects and exploring the drawing, pinching, and rotating finger skills that are the basic elements of interacting within the app environment. The orange circle with the scissors and pencil icons features nine activities that familiarize Art Lab users with some of the MoMA’s most famous artworks, artists, and their techniques. Other helpful in-app features like voice-over narration, camera and gallery increase this app’s usefulness and general applicability in an educational setting.

Geoboard is a free, open-ended maths app created by the Math Learning Center. Users stretch a series of five different colours of bands around pegs to explore mathematical concepts such as: lines, shapes, scale, angles, fractions, area, and a variety of basic geometry concepts. Bands are easily stretched around the virtual pegs with a “red light/green light” concept that even young children will understand. A green circle means the band can be successfully stretched around the peg while a red x means it’s pulled too far. Users can also fill in shapes by tapping on a ‘shape fill’ icon on the bottom docking menu. Shapes can also be easily erased from the board with a ‘refresh’ icon. Manipulative and entertaining, this app provides maths applicability across the age groups. Young children may need a bit of practice before the can stretch the bands correctly but will still get enjoyment out of the colours and the process.